A major problem facing caterers for a long time has been the inability to provide coffee of sufficient quality and in sufficient quantity for serving large groups. Catering is quite often done at locations which do not have sufficient equipment available, if any at all, for the brewing of large quantities of coffee in a short period of time. As a result, it is necessary for caterers to brew large quantities of coffee beforehand at their preparation kitchen and transport the coffee in insulated containers. This procedure has many drawbacks. First, the coffee was normally brewed using conventional restaurant coffee makers such as large percolators or drip coffee makers such as the Bunn machines familiar to most restaurant patrons. Thus, it took a long time to prepare large quantities of coffee such as 150 gallons which is not an uncommon amount needed for a group of 1000 people. As a result, the initially brewed coffee had to be heated or maintained hot while the rest of the coffee was brewed in batches. Of course, the longer it was necessary to heat the coffee the poorer its quality became. Placing coffee in the insulated containers started the cooling process immediately, and the coffee continues to cool as the caterer has no control of the temperature of the coffee. It is quite difficult for the caterer when he arrives at the location to reheat the coffee. Thus, depending on the amount of time in transit and delay at the use site for programs, etc., the coffee frequently becomes lukewarm or cold and unsuitable to be served. Furthermore, the method of transporting the brewed coffee is undesirable because it requires transporting the additional weight of the brewed coffee in bulky and heavy containers.
These methods also do not provide the caterer with flexibility to vary the quantity of coffee. When the demand for coffee exceeds the prior estimation, the caterer is often unable to supply additional coffee within the required amount of time at the meal location. In order to prevent such an event, caterers routinely overestimate coffee consumption in order to be assured that a sufficient quantity will be available. This of course introduces additional waste when the coffee is not consumed thereby increasing the cost of the service.
Thus, there has been a continuing need in the catering business to provide a portable coffee maker which could rapidly produce large quantities of hot, freshly brewed coffee with a minimum of waste. The present invention provides a high capacity portable coffee maker which allows the caterer to brew coffee at the meal location in such a manner as to provide coffee in a timely and efficient manner.